Lawyers are petitioning Stanford University leadership to remove from a resident assistant position a student who threatened violence against Jews and Israel in a series of social media posts, according to a copy of the legal letter sent on behalf of Jewish students fearing for their safety on campus.
Lawyers with the Pennsylvania-based Marcus & Auerbach firm sent a letter to Stanford's president requesting that student Hamzeh Daoud be removed from his post as a resident assistant at the university in light of social media posts in which Daoud called for the destruction of Israel and violently cursed those who support Zionism.
The letter, sent on behalf of an anonymous Jewish student who fears for his or her safety on campus, calls on Stanford to take swift action against Daoud as a result of his multiple postings advocating for the destruction of Israel.
The petition represents just the latest anti-Semitic scandal on Stanford's campus, which has been faced with multiple instances of anti-Semitic and anti-Zionist discrimination in recent months.
"Daoud's public statements—including statements he has made that were public, but that he has recently hidden by deleting certain of his social media accounts—make clear that he is not capable of performing the duties of a Resident Assistant," the letter states, according to a copy exclusively obtained by the Washington Free Beacon. "Worse, if Stanford were to retain a person of Daoud's temperament in that position after being made aware of his statements, Stanford will have clearly discriminated against Zionist students on campus, in violation of federal law and its own formal policies."
Lawyers maintain that Daoud's violent rhetoric should disqualify him from any leadership post on campus.
The "posts reveal Daoud as a very intemperate young man who should not be employed by Stanford to counsel and support other undergraduates," the letter states.
In one recent post on Twitter, Daoud wrote, "fuck your liberal Zionist ass. fuck your jewish state. and fuck the notion that makes you believe that the resoliance and beauty that embodies Judaism, jewish people, and the jewish religion is Israel. Israel is a state that needs to be dismantled. Any other opinion is complicity [sic]."
Another states, "For those who don't speak Arabic; this translate to God curse Israel. God Curse the shit out of Israel :)! [sic]."
Other unearthed posts—many of which have now been deleted or hidden by Daoud—similarly bash Israel and threaten Jewish people.
"These posts make clear that Daoud is incapable of according Zionist students at Stanford the respect to which they are entitled," lawyers write in the letter to Stanford leadership. "Even apart from his threats of physical violence, the above posts reveal Daoud as someone who feels uncontrollable contempt and rage for this part of the Jewish faith."
A Stanford University spokesperson told the Free Beacon the school rejects Daoud's comments and is currently engaged in a process to address the posts and resulting fear among Jewish students on campus.
However, it is unclear if Daoud will be permitted to retain his resident assistant position.
"Threats of physical violence have absolutely no place in the Stanford community," the spokesperson told the Free Beacon when asked for comment on the situation. "As we have discussed many times within our campus community, the mission of a university depends on the open exchange of ideas and the sharing of divergent viewpoints, including on controversial issues. At the same time, however, members of our community absolutely must be able to live, work, and study at Stanford without fear for their personal safety."
Stanford further told the Free Beacon that Daoud has amended some of his most violent posts since receiving negative attention in the media and on campus.
"We have a process underway to actively address the issues surrounding the Facebook post that was physically threatening to some members of our community," the spokesperson said. "The author of the post amended it to make clear that he does not support physical violence, and he apologized in a personal letter to members of the Jewish community at Stanford. While we recognize these steps taken by the author of the post, we also have an obligation to address the original communication and its effects. Our students must feel they are able to voice their own views on campus without fear of physical retaliation, and they also must feel physically safe in our student residences."
Stanford says Daoud will be treated fairly by the university as they investigate further actions.
"The author of the post will receive fair and thoughtful consideration, as our work with students demands. In matters involving individual students, privacy laws limit what the university can disclose publicly, and we understand that this may be unsatisfactory to some," the spokesman said. "We are working to address the issues in a manner that advances our commitment to an inclusive community and a safe campus environment."